Roddy Piper Talks Backstage WrestleMania Stories, More

Piper on working with WrestleMania celebrities: “The acts I did were to further the business. It took a lot of balls to say you’re not pinning my shoulders at WrestleMania. I was protecting the business. You never let somebody come from outside the business, have their way with the business and then leave the next day and laugh at you. How the hell does David Arquette become World Champion. Maybe you can have – in the Hall of Fame – the lifetime achievement award. Bob Uecker would fit in right there. It’s the way you categorize it I think. Because there were guys who got stabbed three times to get into that Hall of Fame!”

Piper on his WrestleMania boxing match with Mr. T: “It was one of the worst matches of my life. Why? In that match with Mr. T, they didn’t trust me. I had done some boxing. I trained for five weeks for this fight. They taped my fists up solid and then put it in the gloves. He was scarred. At the end of the day it was my fault, let’s make that clear. Those boxing gloves are thumbless. Mr. T was supposed to throw a left-cross. They asked my for a little show-business. So when he threw the left, I was supposed to go through the ropes to the floor. But when he threw it, he missed. He was all tired. They really protected him. We got an old saying, I would rather you punch my teeth down my throat then throw a popcorn punch!”

Piper on an idea he provided for WrestleMania 27: “I did shoot an idea to the WWE. I said put Cena and The Rock in Piper’s Pit at WrestleMania. Because I knew he wouldn’t wrestle but everybody would wanna see him. They should use people who have given to the business – like The Rock, like myself – who are powerful enough to entertain. Instead of just putting in Snooki.”

Other Topics

Addressing rumors and responds to false accusations about him and his health and missing appearances, from unreliable sources, over the years (6:15)

Discussing how to handle celebrity involvement in professional wrestling, particularly at WrestleMania (11:30)

Discussing the current WrestleMania landscape – including The Rock, John Cena, Snooki and the possibility of Piper’s Pit at WrestleMania 27 (16:00)

Thoughts and memories from the first WrestleMania, and thoughts on the age old argument: “who sold WrestleMania 1?” (19:03)